Green Assails Ferrer's Call For Decentralizing Business

By MICHAEL COOPER

Published: October 6, 2001

Mark Green charged yesterday that Fernando Ferrer was not prepared to rebuild the city's economy in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center, saying his plans did ''not measure up to the crisis'' and warning that his call to decentralize office space could break up the financial district.

''Anybody who understands how integral financial services is to New York, anyone who understands the way markets operate, should know that you don't break up Wall Street,'' said Mr. Green, the public advocate and a Democratic candidate for mayor. ''You don't break up Broadway, Detroit doesn't break up the auto industry, and New York doesn't break up downtown Manhattan and financial services.''

His remarks were the latest in a series aimed at raising doubts in the minds of voters about whether his opponent for the Democratic mayoral nomination, Mr. Ferrer, the Bronx borough president, was prepared to guide the city through the current crisis.

Mr. Green has taken to speaking of his ''citywide experience'' a lot in recent days. On Thursday he said that Mr. Ferrer had not ''risen to the emergency when it comes to safety and security.''

A spokesman for Mr. Ferrer, John Del Cecato, said, ''When your political opponent attacks the details of your plan, you know you've struck a nerve.''

At the heart of the debate is Mr. Ferrer's call for decentralizing office space. Mr. Ferrer released a proposal on Tuesday which said that ''while Lower Manhattan must be rebuilt to have a critical mass of finance and related industries, this is an opportunity to pursue much needed development opportunities in the city outside Lower Manhattan, including the other four boroughs.''

Mr. Green called a news conference yesterday with two supporters from the field of municipal finance -- the current and previous city comptrollers, Alan G. Hevesi, and Elizabeth Holtzman. They all warned that any plan that would disperse businesses from downtown would be dangerous. ''A plan that calls for decentralization is not a plan for the future of New York City,'' Ms. Holtzman said.

Mr. Del Cecato said that Mr. Green and his supporters were misreading Mr. Ferrer's proposal. He said decentralization was a short-term solution.

''The mayor's office suggested that it will take a least a year just to clear the site,'' he said. ''If we don't provide at least 10 million square feet of office space elsewhere, those businesses will leave, and we can't afford to have businesses flee New York City.''

But in a statement that accompanied the release of the plan, Mr. Ferrer also described the need to decentralize office space as ''a longer-term objective.'' In a debate between the two candidates on Tuesday, Mr. Ferrer said that the shape of Lower Manhattan would have to be decided in the future.

Mr. Green's salvos on the economy were representative of the more sharply confrontational tone his campaign has taken as the race heads into the final days before the Oct. 11 runoff.

Ever since Mr. Ferrer finished first in the Sept. 25 primary, and won several important endorsements -- including one from former Mayor Edward I. Koch and, yesterday, another from the United Federation of Teachers -- Mr. Green has shown a new willingness to openly criticize him.

This week Mr. Green accused Mr. Ferrer of running a ''polarizing campaign'' because of his theme of running for ''the other New York.''

He has said that the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is supporting Mr. Ferrer, was wrong to diminish Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's response to the recent terrorist attacks by saying that even Bozo could have brought the city together. And Mr. Green has repeatedly questioned Mr. Ferrer's plans to rebuild the city and provide security.

As Mr. Ferrer received the endorsement of the teachers union, he said: ''There should be no negative campaigning here. I won't engage in it. I won't respond to it.''

Mr. Green still has a big financial advantage over Mr. Ferrer. Papers filed yesterday with the Campaign Finance Board indicated that Mr. Green had more than four times as much money on hand as Mr. Ferrer does, but that Mr. Ferrer has been raising more than he has in recent weeks.

From Sept. 18 to Oct. 1., Mr. Green raised $87,435 and spent $1,397,617, according to the filings. His campaign said that its balance at the end of the period was $3.8 million. During the same period Mr. Ferrer raised $134,011 and spent $878,159, his campaign reported. They said that the campaign's balance at the end of the period was $892,609.

When Mayor Giuliani was asked about the new tone of the race, he said: ''If each of them would stop accusing each other of being divisive, then nobody would. . .'' Then he stopped in midsentence. ''If I say anything about the Democratic primary, they'll say I'm interfering in the Democratic primary,'' he said. ''That's either a sin or a crime.'' He was not so circumspect earlier, when he made a series of daily attacks on one of the candidates, Mr. Hevesi, which many Democrats believe were critically damaging.

Mr. Green was endorsed yesterday by the unions representing New York City police captains and lieutenants and the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. Capt. John Driscoll, the president of the Captains Endowment Association, painted Mr. Green as a consistent police critic back in August, after endorsing endorsing Peter F. Vallone, the City Council speaker.

But yesterday he praised Mr. Green as someone who would stay ''vigilant on crime.''

Photo: Mark Green, right, meeting with the Rev. Gardner Taylor at the East Ward Missionary Baptist Church in Manhattan. (Ruby Washington/The New York Times)